CEDAR CITY, Utah-- The Southern Utah University women's soccer team dropped a physical, fiery contest to the Weber State Wildcats,1-0, Sunday afternoon.
With the loss, the T-Birds fell to 1-12-1 overall and 0-5-1 in the Big Sky, while Weber State improved its record to 7-6-0 on the year and 4-1-0 in conference play.
"We created lots of chances and outshot our opponent for the fourth game in a row," said SUU head coach Kai Edwards. "Weber is a very good team, but we played very well. We had our chances, but conference play comes down to set-pieces and attention to detail. We lost focus and that was the difference in the game."
SUU came out fast and immediately put itself on the offensive. The T-Bird attack dominated the time of possession early and began to find space for multiple chances deep inside the Wildcats' final third. SUU's best chance of the first half came in the 38th minute when defender Natalia Sepulveda received a pass just outside the Wildcats' 18-yard box and launched a shot to the top left corner of the net that just narrowly made its way over the crossbar. The Thunderbirds fired seven more shots at the Weber goalkeeper, but couldn't find a way to break through, sending the game into the half scoreless.
Coming out of the break, Weber State's attack found life and began to find quality looks of its own. The Wildcats found a way to a breakthrough in the 57th minute when they earned a set-piece just inside midfield. Midfielder Sadie Newsom set up to take the set-piece and fired the ball inside the box to forward Morgan Fumianak who then flicked a pass to Midfielder Taylor Slack. Slack sent a low, right-footed shot to the bottom right corner of the net, giving the Wildcats the lead.
Finding themselves down, the Thunderbirds continued to apply pressure in the midfield and began to make runs deep inside the Wildcats' final third. They nearly found their equalizer in the 85th minute when defender Emma Leong collected a pass just outside the box and pummeled a strike towards the top left corner of the net that Weber State goalkeeper Kaytlin Bradley batted out of bounds, spoiling the Thunderbirds' opportunity to tie the game.
The Thunderbirds continued to show resilience as they fired nine more shots, but in the end, they could not find a way to breakthrough.
-
The Thunderbirds outshot their opponent for the fourth straight time firing 18 shots on the day.
-
Ashley Rivera and Kamryn Farro lead the Thunderbirds with four shots in Sunday's match.
-
Defenders Mckenzie Emery and Emma Leong both played a full 90 minutes, recording multiple clearances for the Thunderbird backline.
The Thunderbirds now travel to Flagstaff, Arizona to take on the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks on Sunday, October 17th. Streaming of the match will be available on ESPN+.
For all the latest on Southern Utah soccer, follow @SUUSoccer on Twitter and Instagram, and like the Southern Utah Soccer Facebook page.
